Bill 23 must be repealed in…

Bill 23 must be repealed in its entirety. It is outrageous that our provincial government is attempting to remove environmental protections of any kind, let alone within the Greenbelt. Nature has intrinsic value and should be protected at all costs. Unfortunately we live in a society that demands monetary values be assigned to what services the environment ‘provides’ to us, so to be clear: the ecosystem services on these lands are invaluable and cannot be replaced by a replica somewhere else. We are in a climate emergency and biodiversity crisis which need to be immediately addressed through science-based policies and action. This proposal does the opposite: it is removing valuable farmland and natural spaces, thus destroying their ecosystem services, degrading the land around them, and exasperating issues like flooding.

“The Greenbelt Area includes lands covered by the policies of the Greenbelt Plan, as well as the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan. Collectively, these plans identify where major urbanization should not occur. The plans provide permanent protection to the agricultural land base and the ecological and hydrological features, areas and functions within the Greater Golden Horseshoe and beyond.” PERMANENT PROTECTION means PERMANENT. Not the whim of the current political party looking to provide their funders with financial gain.

Additionally, under strategic removal it states “Greater than 1:1 offset must be achieved to ensure overall Greenbelt expansion.” Offsetting IS NOT a solution. You cannot destroy valuable farmland or a sensitive habitat in a protected area and think it is possible to replace that loss somewhere else.